Ryu Murakami, the cult Japanese author and film-maker whose subversive, blackly comic novels found millions of readers, has died aged 74. He died on 17 October at home, according to his Japanese publisher Gentosha.

Described as the enfant terrible of contemporary Japanese literature, Murakami incorporated violence, explicit drug use and sex into stories that offered a sharp-eyed critique of Japanese and American culture.

“It has been a huge privilege to bring many of Ryu Murakami’s strange, original and cinematic novels to an English-speaking audience,” said Adam Freudenheim, publisher and managing director at Pushkin Press, which, along with Bloomsbury, publishes Murakami’s works in translation in the UK.

Murakami was the son of two teachers, born in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture, in 1952. During high school, he joined a rock band as a drummer, and after participating in a rooftop protest was placed under a three-month house arrest. He published his first novel, Almost Transparent Blue, in 1976.…